Our deck was considered completely unsafe; dry rot, rusted nails, and no bolting to the house. It had to be replaced. So when we were getting married last summer we requested in lieu of a registry, that people help us fund for our home projects-mainly the deck. So after the wedding madness, the typical Northwest weather came in and we couldn't build.
Kevin and I took our tools out this month and took down the old rickety deck and had a work party made up of friends and family to help us. This all happened in one week from destruction of the old deck, to the final railing on the new deck.
Before: (no railings as they were taken down over a year ago)
Destruction- We managed to save all of the old wood (except for the most dry rotted) It will most certainly be reused in other "old west" dog houses, planter boxes and general woodworking my husband thinks up.
Lots of Nails, lots of wiggling.
Here is the dry rot....so dangerous. Your foot would step right through.
We then disconnected the whole structure from the house, which was relatively easy- it was only nailed to the siding (no bolts). We simply wrapped the deck with a utility rope and pulled, hoping it wouldn't crash into our sliding glass door.
No more deck poorly connected to the house....
Only one major injury... hammering your own hand results in a lot of swelling and a big fat bruise....
To my surprise, no injuries with this part, had to bust out some concrete to set our pillars.
There was staining....a of staining. I spent every day after work staining all of the wood so it would be gorgeous when it went up. It paid off.
Then the troop came out... there was some man talk, some beer drank and the deck went together piece by piece.
Then the beautiful railing was put up. It is my favorite part. It is safe, functional, and looks so nice.
The final product is exactly what we wanted. We spend as much of our time out there already.
